


tumhe jo maine dekha, tumhe jo maine jaana

by InAFandomInducedHazeAtTheMoment



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Blink and you'll miss it, Canon Compliant, F/F, First Kiss, How Do I Tag, Love Confessions, Mai (Avatar)-Centric, Post-Canon, Slight Angst?, Sort of? - Freeform, also allusions to Ty Lee/Azula but it's unhealthy and just what Mai thinks and she's wrong, it's the fire nation gang what do you think?, no beta we die like zhao should have, rated T because mai says bullshit, so like a BRIEF BRIEF allusion to child abuse, there's like some slight Mai/Zuko but it's fake, we also address the fact that Mai does not have a good childhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27409321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InAFandomInducedHazeAtTheMoment/pseuds/InAFandomInducedHazeAtTheMoment
Summary: Here, in almost the exact same spot, almost a year later, seeing Ty Lee shrouded in an array of red, orange, and yellow, she’s in awe. Of the beauty, the smile on her face, and how she remains resilient through all her pain, an ethereal spirit in times of misfortune. And call her sentimental, but Mai knows she could writestudieson the way the sun illuminates Ty Lee’s laugh.But she doesn't.Instead, she does one of the most daring things she’s done and takes a risk.She kisses Ty Lee.
Relationships: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 28





	tumhe jo maine dekha, tumhe jo maine jaana

**Author's Note:**

> first work in this fandom and it's a mailee fic...could i ask for anything better?
> 
> also, yes the title is from a hindi song and it basically translates (?) to "i see you, i understand you"
> 
>  **a/n:** a special thank you to skittles for keeping me up till 1 in the morning, just to finish this and _as much as i hate to say it....._ math for giving me an assessment and an excuse to stay up late. 
> 
> tw: slight cursing (i think mai says bullshit like once), one brief allusion (like blink and you’ll miss it) to child abuse and yet again, copious amounts of the use of italics
> 
> anyways, enjoy!!

_**late spring, 100 AG** _

Mai never understood evening picnics. Looking at the sunset was boring and stupid and she really did mean it when she said “Orange is such an awful color”. 

_She could recall important dinners, with dignitaries and generals. The room filled with boisterous laughter, and serious negotiations. Nights 7-year-old Mai spent, wishing, wishing, wishing she could be like the other girls. Smile and laugh, run around with no worries, watch as the sun rises and sets, race around with each other._

_Mai remembers the last time she asked to go watch the sunset, accidentally cutting her father off at his own meeting. She shudders_

_She’d rather not relieve the moment._

When she was with Zuko, he made it bearable. They would sit on the ground and have a picnic and they would talk and Mai could push down the growing feelings of a certain, bubbly acrobat and ignore the blush on Zuko’s face when he would talk about his time in his earth kingdom and a certain freedom fighter. They weren’t free, not really.

But with each other, it was the closest they were going to get to happiness. So Mai did what she does best...she snarked, she sighed and she ignored the pangs in her heart when she snuck glances at her best friend, clad in pink, and smiling, her face joyous and round every time. 

And it worked. For weeks, Zuko and Mai would kiss and pretend that they were “courting” or whatever the hell the elders called it, and maybe they weren’t good, or even ok really. In fact, they were broken. But at least they would be broken together

Now Zuko’s gone. He’s left the fire nation, he's going to be branded as a traitor (as if he already wasn’t) and all he left her is a measly letter that is the word equivalent of “it’s not you, it’s me”. She’s angry and the whole situation is screwed up and Mai wants to cry but she doesn’t and the worst part? Mai can’t hold back the relief she feels and it’s so messed up and now he’s left her. Her solid support has left her all alone with Azula who might just as well be a ticking bomb, waiting to explode with Mai and Ty Lee as her first victims. 

_And Ty Lee._

He’s left her here with no one to talk to but Ty Lee and Mai may be strong and she may be brave but she’s already spent years suppressing her feelings and Ty Lee could ask for a coin and she’d give her the world. Too much time with Ty Lee will make Mai erupt, her emotions to bubble up, and then she’ll explode. Her vulnerabilities exposed and all cards on the table.

Mai can’t have that. She knows she can’t have Ty Lee in the first place. 

_You know there’s another reason Azula brings up a nasty taste in her mouth and a stutter in Ty Lee’s heartbeat_ , her treacherous mind whispers, creeping up in her thoughts.

She shakes her head and sends them away from her mind. Mai knows that someday she’ll have to be Fire Lady and even though Zuko is good at hiding she can tell his heart belongs to someone else. It’s what always made them work. Both trapped in a love they can never get. But duty is a fickle thing and Zuko would rather die than think he’s betraying his country. 

_Idiot_

Mai gets up, dusts off her clothes, and she makes a call to someone she hasn’t talked to since her childhood.

\---

_**early summer, 100 AG** _

Mai is in shock. There’s no other word for it. She’s imprisoned, yes but she can't stop the last 10 minutes playing on a loop in her head. Ty Lee betrayed Azula. Ty Lee betrayed Azula for _her._

Mai’s shoes screech to a halt on the metal floor. Her thought process, soon after. 

Ty Lee is marked a _traitor_ because she cared about Mai. More than she cared about Azula at least. Mai is already dizzy. It doesn't help when her brain starts to wander. Maybe _the stutter in her heart is for Mai and the way she giggles and smiles at Mai’s words are meant just for her and maybe Mai can hope that Ty Lee feels the same comfort and warmth from when she’s hugging----_ No. No, she's not going to go down that spiral. Not here, at least.

Mai thanks the spirits one more time for her stoic face and demeanor, preventing any prisoners from approaching her mid-freakout. Suddenly, the thick, heavy doors are sliding open.

“Come on, prisoner. The Warden’s got a special cell for you.” 

Sometimes, Mai loved being part of the nobility, if not for the perks.

She gets up and walks off, head held high, playing her role of an obedient daughter. T _y Lee freakout later..once we have a solid break-out plan set in stone._

Ty Lee can handle herself, Mai reassures. 

_She always does._

\---

**mid-autumn, 101 AG**

The war is over. 

Technically they won. 

They, being everyone on the Avatar’s side, including her apparently. 

Ty Lee made some friends in those girls they fought during her time in prison, what were they called? _The Yoshinama Fighters? The Kyoshi Warriors?_

She promised Mai that she would always remain her favorite and that that would never change but Mai doubts it and she wouldn't blame her if it did happen. Ty Lee had finally found her place and a group of girls willing to take her in and teach her. That’s more than Mai can say. She spent her time locked up in a small cell, given the excuse it was the best the Warden could do.

_Bullshit_

But Mai pulled a few strings, dirtied a few knives and now she’s here. Left in the Fire Nation Palace as an Advisor to the Fire Lord himself, Zuko. 

_Mai would much rather just abolish the throne..easier for everyone, she thinks._

But she’s not the Fire Lord or a figure of upstanding value. She’s there so Zuko doesn’t get bothered and badgered for an heir and to take a wife, and she’s there because Mai has nowhere else to go. 

Maybe she'll visit her aunt’s flower shop soon, settle down and stop thinking about---

“Mai!!, you're here!!”

 _Right._ Suki and the others were meeting with Zuko over the discussion of reparations for Kyoshi Island. 

_How could she have forgotten?_

Ty Lee laughs at Mai’s stricken expression.

“Come on Mai, I know you’re not busy today because Zuko told me he cleared your schedule and I’ve planned an entire picnic, just the two of us because it’s been so long and..”

Mai freezes. 

A picnic? with Ty Lee? Alone?

She’s not going to survive this without exposing herself..

_Damn you Zuko, and your matchmaking ways_

She lets herself be dragged away from the palace and towards the beach, her mind a whirlwind of emotions and her stomach, twisting in knots.

\---

Ty Lee’s even more beautiful, Mai notices, all of a sudden. She’s grown into herself, no longer hiding her flaws and keeping her emotions at bay. She’s at peace. And it makes her even more wonderful in Mai’s eyes. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Mai wasn’t supposed to still be in love. She would have gotten over it and Ty Lee would bring her new girlfriend that she met and Mai would smile and grimace but she would suck it up and attend their wedding and see Ty Le in a beautiful shade of red that compliments her skin and adds to her---

“Mai look! The sun’s finally setting!”

She turns to face Ty Lee, ready to make a sarcastic remark or two, and

_Oh._

She never cared for gestures of romance and love. She made it explicitly clear with Zuko that she was not a romance-oriented girl.

But here, in almost the exact same spot, almost a year later, seeing Ty Lee shrouded in an array of red, orange, and yellow, she’s in awe. Of the beauty, the smile on her face, and how she remains resilient through all her pain, an ethereal spirit in times of misfortune. And call her sentimental, but Mai knows she could write _studies_ on the way the sun illuminates Ty Lee’s laugh. 

But she doesn't. 

Instead, she does one of the most daring things she’s done and takes a risk.

She kisses Ty Lee. By some miracle, _thank the spirits_ Mai doesn’t think she would have survived the embarrassment, Ty Lee kisses back. 

And shrouded amongst the rocks, a feeling of contentedness creeps into Mai’s heart and settles there.

_And maybe,_ she thinks

Maybe sunsets aren’t so bad.

**Author's Note:**

> endnotes: i just think they’re neat. this is also the very first fanfic i started and my first work in this fandom and i'm proud of this so
> 
> anyways, hope you enjoyed!! talk to me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/loverofallthingssmart), comment and/or kudos if you liked it, and have a wonderful day/night lovelies!!


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